All publications cited in this application are herein incorporated by reference. The present disclosure relates to the field of ornamental Petunia plants and plant breeding. The disclosure provides new, distinct and stable Petunia plants having inflorescences with a unique spotted flower color pattern. This color pattern has not been observed in any known Petunia, but was discovered through the Applicant's breeding program.
The genus Petunia belongs to the plant family Solanaceae and is divided into 14 different species, which are endemic to South America. The geographical distribution includes temperate and subtropical regions of Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Brazil, with a center of diversification in southern Brazil. The common garden Petunia, Petunia x hybrida (Hook.) Vilm, now commonly known as Petunia hybrid, is derived from a cross of the two species P. integrifolia and P. axillaris. The garden Petunia was first obtained through hybridization in 1834 by Atkins of Northhampton, a British nurseryman, and it soon spread to all European gardens (Sink, K. C. Ed. (1984) In: Petunia: Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Genetics 9. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 3-9). Today, it is used worldwide as an outdoor pot plant, in window boxes or as a bedding plant and is one of the most important ornamental plants. In 1983, Wijsman showed that crosses between further Petunia species as well as between the garden Petunia and other species are possible ((Wijsman, H. J. W. (1983). On the interrelationships of certain species of Petunia. II. Experimental data: Crosses between different taxa. Acta Bot. Neerl. 32:97-107; Wijsman, H. J. W. and Jong J. H. (1985) On the interrelationships of certain species of Petunia. IV. Hybridization and nomenclatural consequences in the Petunia group. Acta Bot. Neerl. 34: 337-349). Therefore, it is probable that further Petunia species have contributed to the modern varieties.
In commercial Petunia breeding, there has always been big interest in the development of new flower colors and color patterns, the modern Petunia varieties today cover a broad range of different flower colors as well as combinations therefrom. The flower color of Petunia is determined mainly by flavonoids, whereas the related species Calibrachoa uses anthocyanidins as well as carotenoids for the red flower color (Murakami, Y., Fukui, Y. Watanabe, H., Kokubun, H., Toya, Y. and T. Ando (2004) Floral coloration and pigmentation in Calibrachoa cultivars. Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, 79(1): 47-53). The basic chromosome number of the genus Petunia is seven; by this characteristic, as well as by further morphological traits, Petunia can be differentiated from Calibrachoa (Joao Renato Stehmann, Aline P. Lorenz-Lemke, Loreta B. Freitas and Joao Semir (2000) The Genus Petunia. In: T. Gerats and J. Strommer (Eds.), Petunia—Evolutionary, Developmental and Physiological Genetics. Second edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin, pp. 1-28), but the two genera can be intercrossed.
Petunia can be propagated from seed, cuttings, and tissue culture. Germination, cutting propagation, and tissue culture protocols for Petunia are well-known in the art.
Petunia is an important and valuable ornamental plant. Thus, a continuing goal of ornamental plant breeders is to develop plants with novel characteristics, such as color, growth habit, and hardiness. To accomplish this goal, the breeder must select and develop plants that have traits that result in superior Petunia varieties.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification.